Games for a Group

Every other week, I host a weekly game night at home. It starts after work, usually around 6pm. I “cook” something for dinner, always enough to feed everyone and usually something purchased on sale in the frozen section. I ask friends to bring any beverages or dessert they’d like, although I do keep wine on hand. Once we finish eating, we bring out a board game for the evening. Our favorite games are ones where anyone can jump in somewhat easily, and that don’t require as much set up or take down. It means our guests are interacting with something fun instead of just sitting around, and it’s ideal since often our guests don’t know each other. We always have a great time, and it’s a lot more fun and frugal than sitting around a restaurant. It’s a great way to build relationships.

If you have games you love, bring them out! It never hurts to teach your group a new game, and it’s only new the first time you play. It’s also more frugal than purchasing a new game. Also, someone in your friend group may already have a great game they’d like to bring. It never hurts to ask.

If you don’t have any yet, here are a few of our favorites that don’t get old, even a couple game nights in a row. For each one, the more players, the more fun it is. Additionally, people can jump in and out easily, which makes it easier for navigating arrival times and bedtimes on a work night.

“Apples to Apples are the game of hilarious comparisons. It’s as easy as comparing apples to apples. Just open the box, deal the cards, and you’re ready to play. Select the card from your hand that you think is best described by a card played by the judge.”

“Cards Against Humanity is a party game for horrible people. Unlike most of the party games you’ve played before, Cards Against Humanity is as despicable and awkward as you and your friends. The game is simple. Each round, one player asks a question from a Black Card, and everyone else answers with their funniest White Card.”

The more players, the more fun it is. (Our house rules are max of 3 attempts and then it switches to the other team, since we’ve had some teams clear the table before.)

“Codenames is a social word game with a simple premise and challenging game play. Two rival spymasters know the secret identities of 25 agents. Their teammates know the agents only by their codenames. The teams compete to see who can make contact with all of their agents first. Spymasters give one-word clues that can point to multiple words on the table. Their teammates try to guess words of their color while avoiding those that belong to the opposing team. And everyone wants to avoid the assassin.”

It’s definitely more fun when you know your group. If you don’t, guesses can be a hilarious shot in the dark. (We keep score by holding on to the slips of paper we’ve correctly guessed. Instead of writing with pens, we like to write with the same color crayons. I keep a bunch in the house for my AirBnB guests. It hides the handwriting really well!)

“Read funny topics, like ‘THINGS… you shouldn’t do when you’re naked’ and then everyone writes responses, like ‘Fly a kite’, ‘Jumping jacks’, etc. Now guess who said what.”

Free version: you can print out your own list of questions and just use cut up pieces of printer paper for everyone to write their answers on.

It’s a fun game for any groups. The object of the game is for a player to play all the dominoes from his or her hand onto one or more chains, or “trains”, emanating from a central hub or “station”. You do keep score as you play and build your trains, so it’s harder for people to jump in and out, but you can also play with by rounds instead.

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2 Replies to “Games for a Group”

Me and my wife were talking about hosting game nights with our friends last weekend. I’m glad I happened to come across this article. Cards against humanity is one of our favorites! I look forward to trying some of the other games. I hadn’t heard of several of them.

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